"Senate Democrats finally voted to end the filibuster of presidential appointments this week, after years of tolerating Republican obstruction.
As Elizabeth Warren told activists yesterday, Senator Jeff Merkley has been "leading the fight for filibuster reform from the very beginning."
It's sometimes been lonely for Sen. Merkley as he tried to convince his colleagues to make the Senate functional again.
The Huffington Post reported a few months ago that at a "closed-door caucus meeting, Merkley was upbraided... for breaking unspoken Senate rules and naming specific senators [who needed pressure] in a conference call with Democratic activists."
The vote this week was a narrow 52 to 48. A few Democrats voted wrong. That means Merkley's months of work, and outside grassroots pressure, were absolutely needed."
[It's up to you whether you want to donate to Merkley, but I thought the peek behind the scenes was salutary....]
No comments:
Post a Comment